Deployable float safety system

ABSTRACT

A safety system for use with vehicles such as boats. The safety system includes one or more inflatable bags or bladders which may prevent the vehicle from sinking in a body of water. The bags may be stored in housings, and the housings may be angled to ensure smooth deployment of the bags. A pressure regulator and one or more valves may ensure the inflatable components stay inflated so as to ensure the vehicle stays afloat. The safety system may be automatically or manually activated.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/318,565 filed Apr. 5, 2016, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to flotation systems for vehicles.

BACKGROUND

Failure of boats and other watercraft designed to traverse bodies of water face the possibility of sinking, resulting in either irrecoverable loss of the vehicle or the owner facing incredible cost to recover the sunken watercraft. Moreover, passengers are at risk if the boat fails and begins sink. The same risks hold true for other vehicles which are not necessarily designed to traverse bodies of water but nevertheless may find themselves facing submersion. Cars and other land-based vehicles may accidently end up in a lake or other body of water due to human error or other failure of some part of the car. Similarly, airplanes may be required to perform emergency water landings. These non-watercraft vehicles also face the possibility of sinking and loss of the vehicle, as well as further endangerment of the passengers.

Some vehicles have incorporated floatable material, such as foam, within portions of the vehicle's walls. Foam is problematic, however, because it collects and holds moisture, causes mildew, and may ultimately rot the vehicle's walls potentially contributing to failure of the vehicle. Accordingly, an effective safety system provided to keep a vehicle experiencing failure afloat, and consequentially prevent the vehicle from sinking, would be beneficial for both watercraft as well as other vehicles in order to prevent loss of the vehicle and further harm to the passengers.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of every embodiment disclosed herein. It is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the various embodiments nor delineate the scope of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the disclosure, in accordance with the various embodiments disclosed herein, in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, a safety system for a safety system may be provided for a vehicle to prevent the vehicle from sinking in a body of water, where the vehicle including vehicle outer walls and vehicle inner walls. The system may include a housing secured to one of the vehicle outer walls, an inflatable component stored within the housing when the inflatable component is in a stored state, and a fluid tank storing a fluid and in fluid communication with the inflatable component by a fluid line, the fluid line passing from the fluid tank through one of the vehicle inner walls and through the housing. The safety system may, in an activated state, initiate a flow of fluid from the fluid tank to the inflatable component thereby inflating the inflatable component with the fluid.

The following description and the annexed drawings set forth certain illustrative aspects of the embodiments of the disclosure. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the disclosure may be employed and the various embodiments are intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features will become apparent from the following description when considered in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a boat with an embodiment of a safety system;

FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of the boat of FIG. 1 experiencing failure prior to activation of the safety system;

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of the boat of FIG. 1 experiencing failure with the safety system in a deployed state;

FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of an embodiment of a safety system;

FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective view from the interior of a vehicle showing a portion of the safety system near an embodiment of a housing;

FIG. 6 illustrates a perspective view from the exterior of a vehicle showing a portion of the safety system near an embodiment of a housing;

FIG. 7 illustrates a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a housing in the safety system of FIG. 5 as shown along the plane 7-7;

FIG. 8 illustrates a perspective view of a housing of an embodiment of a safety system in a deployed state;

FIG. 9 illustrates a perspective view of a housing of an embodiment of a safety system in a deployed state;

FIG. 10 illustrates a perspective view of the housing of FIG. 9 with the inflatable component removed;

FIG. 11 illustrates a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a housing in the safety system of FIG. 8 as shown along the plane 11-11; and

FIG. 12 illustrates a perspective view of a boat with an embodiment of a safety system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description and the appended drawings describe and illustrate some embodiments of the disclosure for the purpose of enabling one of ordinary skill in the relevant art to make and use these embodiments. As such, the detailed description and illustration of these embodiments are purely illustrative in nature and are in no way intended to limit the scope of the disclosure in any manner. It should also be understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale and in certain instances details may have been omitted, which are not necessary for an understanding of the embodiments, such as details of fabrication and assembly. In the accompanying drawings, like numerals represent like components.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, a safety system for a safety system may be provided for a vehicle to prevent the vehicle from sinking in a body of water, where the vehicle including vehicle outer walls and vehicle inner walls. The system may include a housing secured to one of the vehicle outer walls, an inflatable component stored within the housing when the inflatable component is in a stored state, and a fluid tank storing a fluid and in fluid communication with the inflatable component by a fluid line, the fluid line passing from the fluid tank through one of the vehicle inner walls and through the housing. The safety system may, in an activated state, initiate a flow of fluid from the fluid tank to the inflatable component thereby inflating the inflatable component with the fluid.

In further embodiments, the safety system may include a housing door connected to an end of the housing proximate the adjacent vehicle outer wall at a hinge, and the housing door pivotable about the hinge. The housing may include a first lid connector and the housing door includes a second lid connector, the first and second lid connectors engageable to secure the housing door in a closed position. The first or second lid connector may be a magnet. The inflation of the inflatable component may press against the housing door thereby opening the housing door. The housing may be angled between about 30 degrees and about 60 degrees with respect to the adjacent outer side wall. The housing may be angled downward towards the body of water, and the angle may be about forty five degrees. The safety system may include a pressure regulator to adjust the release of the fluid and to ensure the pressure within the inflatable component remains constant. The safety system may include one or more additional housings, each housing including an inflatable component, and a splitter to fluidly connect the fluid tank with each inflatable component. The safety system may include an automatic switch, wherein the automatic switch detects entry of water into the vehicle and activates the safety system.

With reference to FIGS. 1-3, a vehicle 16 is shown on a body of water 54 at various stages of failure resulting in the vehicle sinking into water 54. Although the figures herein illustrate vehicle 16 as a boat, a person of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate embodiments of a safety system disclosed herein could be for vehicles other than boats, such as planes or cars, particularly vehicles which may end up in bodies of water as part of the vehicle's failure, such as an airplane conducting a water landing or a car driven off a road into a nearby lake or other body of water.

Vehicle 16 may include exterior walls 18 and interior walls 20. In the context of a boat, the exterior and interior walls 18, 20 may define the hull of a boat. At least a portion of the area within interior walls 20 may be defined as the cabin of the vehicle. As part of embodiments of a safety system for use with vehicle 16, one or more housings 14 may be provided for holding one or more inflatable components 10, with at least one inflatable component 10 stored within, and deployed from, each housing 14. FIGS. 1 and 2 show vehicle 16 sinking into body of water 54 prior to activation of safety system, which may be referred to as a dormant or stored state. FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of safety system in an activated or deployed state with inflatable components 10 filled with a fluid and expanding out of and away from each housing 14. The transition from dormant to activated state may occur automatically, as further described herein, or manually for instance by activating a manual switch 24 which may be provided somewhere within the vehicle's cabin. In the context of a boat, manual switch 24 may be provided on a console proximate to the boat's wheel and other operational controls.

With reference now to FIGS. 4-6, an embodiment of a safety system may include a plurality of housings 14, with each housing connected to a fluid tank 44 by one or more fluid lines 42. Each housing 14 may be attached to vehicle 16 by a plurality of wall connectors 32, which may be rivets, screws, or bolts. Fluid tank 44 may store a compressed fluid to be released once the safety system enters an activated state. Either manual switch 24, an automatic switch 22, or both may be in communication with a valve associated with a fluid tank 44, and triggering or activating either switch 22, 24 may result in activation of the safety system. Automatic switch may be a sensor designed to recognize when water has entered the vehicle, which would be caused for instance by rising water 54 with the cabin of vehicle 16. For instance, automatic switch 22 may be, or include, a Pro 1F® hydro inflator, embodiments of which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,986 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,572,161, and the entire contents of each are herein incorporated by reference. Automatic switch 22 may, thus, be positioned on one of the vehicle walls 18, 20 at a position coinciding with a water level constituting failure of vehicle 16. Given the variable dimensions of a vehicle, as well as the variable types, there is no single possible position for automatic switch 22 and a person of ordinary skill in the art would be able to determine the appropriate placement of automatic switch 22. Fluid line 42 may be secured with housing 12 at an attachment point 50, which may also serve as a securing point for ensuring continued connecting between line 42 and inflatable components 10.

Fluid tank 44 may be in fluid communication with each housing 14 via fluid line 42. In embodiments of safety system featuring a plurality of housings 14, a splitter 26 may be utilized to fluidly connect fluid tank 44 with each housing 14 through a plurality of fluid lines 42. Fluid line 42 may pass through interior vehicle wall 20 and into housing 14, and ultimately be connected with inflatable component 10. This passage through interior wall 20 may be water tight, so as to prevent water passing into vehicle 16 even though vehicle 16 has not experienced failure. A housing grommet 28 may be provided to facilitate a water tight seal at fluid line 42.

Once safety system is activated, fluid may pass from fluid tank 44 through fluid line(s) 42 and into inflatable component(s) 10 stored in housing(s) 12. Fluid will then quickly fill a bladder of each inflatable component 10, the bladder defined as the interior area of inflatable component 10, which will cause the inflatable components to rapidly expand from a dormant state to a deployed state. Once the bladder has expanded to its maximum volume, pressure within the valve system would necessarily increase as a push back is experienced from inflatable component 10 as resistance to further release of fluid from fluid tank 44. This causes a rise of pressure in the valve system. In known embodiments of air bag systems, employed with cars for instance, an airbag will rapidly inflate so as to cushion a passenger from forcefully hitting an interior vehicle wall, and then the airbag would slowly deflate due to the air being cut off and the airbag experiencing a slow release of fluid. In embodiments of a safety system disclosed herein, however, while an inflation of inflatable components 10 may save the vehicle 16 from sinking, if the inflatable components slowly deflate then the vehicle will eventually sink notwithstanding the activation of the safety system. Accordingly, fluid propagation may be regulated so as to prevent early or unintended deflation of inflatable components 10. A fluid pressure regulator 40 may be provided so as to detect pressure in fluid lines 42 and operate to adjust the release rate of fluid from fluid tank 44. A check valve 52, as shown for instance in FIG. 7, may be provided in fluid line 42 so as to prevent back channeling of fluid.

Housing 12 may be angled downward with respect to outer wall vehicle wall 18, such that a plane defined by housing door 14 and an adjacent vehicle outer wall 18 may form between 30 degrees and 60 degrees. In the illustrated embodiment, each housing door 14 and the adjacent outer wall 18 form an angle of about 45 degrees. The angled position may facilitate deployment of inflatable component 10 and help prevent an inflated inflatable component 10 from getting stuck or caught on housing 12 components, such as those components described further herein. Additionally, housing 12 may be provided between inner and outer walls 18, 20, and housing door 14 may be flush, or nearly flush, with an adjacent outer wall 18. In another embodiment, housing 12 may be installed on outer wall 18 so as to avoid removal of a portion of outer wall 18.

With further reference now to FIGS. 7-11, inflatable component 10 may be stored in housing 12 in a compact, folded manner. A housing door 14 may be provided at an entrance of housing 12 proximate to the vehicle wall 18. Housing door 14 may be connected to housing 12 at a hinge 30, and door 14 may pivot about hinge 30 between an open and closed position. Housing door 14 may be secured in the closed position by one or more first lid connectors 34 provided on housing 12 engaging with one or more second lid connectors 36 provided on housing door 14. In one embodiment, first and second lid connectors 34, 36 may be magnets, or at least one may be a magnet while the other is or includes metallic material. In this embodiment, inflation of inflatable component 10 may push on door 14 resulting in the door to forcibly open. Instead of or in addition to connectors 34, 36, a latch may be used to secure housing door 14 closed but permit its opening upon activation of the safety system. A pneumatic latch may be utilized for example. A protrusion or shackle 48 may be provided to which inflatable component 10 may be secured so that an end of inflatable component 10 remains secured to housing 12. In some embodiments, a housing ring 46 may also be provided to secure shackle 48 with housing 12. A back plate 38 may also be provided between housing 12 and outer vehicle wall 18, and wall connectors 32 may be mutually provided through housing 12, outer vehicle wall 18, and back plate 38.

In some embodiments, inflatable component 10 may be stored within a bag or other enclosure within housing 10. The inflatable component bag may be securable to housing 10, or directly to vehicle outer wall 18 by a clip or other attachment. In further embodiments, a safety system may be attached well after failure, and deployment of inflatable components 10 may be utilized to raise a failed vehicle 16 from an ocean floor. In this scenario, once the system is activated a master pressure regulator, such as pressure regulator 40, or localized regulators for each inflatable component 10, may be utilized to ensure even inflation of each inflatable component 10 and to avoid undesired tilting of the vehicle as it rises.

Although embodiments of safety system may include a plurality of housings positioned in a balanced orientation in both the lateral and longitudinal direction of the vehicle 16, some embodiments may have imbalanced positions of housings 12. For instance, FIG. 4 shows housings positioned as pairs both in the lateral and longitudinal directions. FIG. 12, however, shows housings positioned as pairs only in the longitudinal directions. Put another way, housings 12 may only be provided on side of the vehicle 16, or only on the front or the rear of the vehicle 16.

Once the vehicle 16 is out of danger, safety system may be deactivated and inflatable component 10 may be stored back into housing. Accordingly, inflatable component 10 may be reusable.

As should be appreciated from the disclosure, although embodiments of the safety system disclosed herein may include electrical components, safety system does not require use of electrical components thereby reducing costs and risk of the safety system itself failing.

The descriptions set forth above are meant to be illustrative and not limiting. Various modifications of the embodiments, in addition to those described herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Such modifications are also intended to fall within the scope of the concepts described herein. Each patent, patent application and publication cited or described in this document are hereby incorporated herein by reference, in their entireties.

The foregoing description of possible implementations consistent with the present disclosure does not represent a comprehensive list of all such implementations or all variations of the implementations described. The description of some implementation should not be construed as an intent to exclude other implementations. For example, artisans will understand how to implement the embodiments in many other ways, using equivalents and alternatives that do not depart from the scope of the disclosure. Moreover, unless indicated to the contrary in the preceding description, none of the components described in the implementations are essential to the embodiments disclosed. It is thus intended that the embodiments be considered as illustrative, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

REFERENCE LIST

10 inflatable component

12 housing

14 housing lid

16 vehicle

18 exterior vehicle wall

20 interior vehicle wall

22 automatic switch

24 manual switch

26 splitter

28 housing grommet

30 hinge

32 wall connector

34 first lid connector

36 second lid connector

38 back plate

40 pressure regulator

42 fluid lines

44 fluid tank

46 housing ring

48 shackle

50 inflatable component attachment region

52 valve

54 body of water 

What is claimed:
 1. A safety system for a vehicle to prevent the vehicle from sinking in a body of water, the vehicle including vehicle outer walls and vehicle inner walls, and the system comprising: a housing secured to one of the vehicle outer walls; an inflatable component stored within the housing when the inflatable component is in a stored state; and a fluid tank storing a fluid and in fluid communication with the inflatable component by a fluid line, the fluid line passing from the fluid tank through one of the vehicle inner walls and through the housing wherein the safety system in an activated state initiates a flow of fluid from the fluid tank to the inflatable component thereby inflating the inflatable component with the fluid.
 2. The safety system of claim 1 further comprising a housing door connected to an end of the housing proximate the adjacent vehicle outer wall at a hinge, and the housing door pivotable about the hinge.
 3. The safety system of claim 2, wherein the housing includes a first lid connector and the housing door includes a second lid connector, the first and second lid connectors engageable to secure the housing door in a closed position.
 4. The safety system of claim 3, wherein the first or second lid connector is a magnet.
 5. The safety system of claim 3, wherein the inflation of the inflatable component presses against the housing door thereby opening the housing door.
 6. The safety system of claim 1, wherein the housing is angled between about 30 degrees and about 60 degrees with respect to the adjacent outer side wall.
 7. The safety system of claim 6, wherein the housing is angled downward towards the body of water, and the angle is about forty five degrees.
 8. The safety system of claim 1 further comprising a pressure regulator to adjust the release of the fluid and to ensure the pressure within the inflatable component remains constant.
 9. The safety system of claim 1 further comprising one or more additional housings, each housing including an inflatable component, and a splitter to fluidly connect the fluid tank with each inflatable component.
 10. The safety system of claim 1 further comprising an automatic switch, wherein the automatic switch detects entry of water into the vehicle and activates the safety system. 